Jiang's Culture of Hate and Terror Showcased in Paris as Yellow Scarves Are Barred from "Culture Year"

2004-02-08

During the Chinese New Year 2004, the Chinese consulate in Paris celebrated with activities that included Kung Fu, acrobatics, dances, theatre performances, fashion shows, food, wine and many other things. However, I always felt something was missing from the 5,000 year-old Chinese culture. Other than the material things, don't we have something more philosophical and spiritual to show the world? We should know that Westerners emphasise "value" when promoting their culture, because what represents their values represents the profound meaning of their culture.

I observed the activities and found that the closest and the loftiest thing at "Chinese Culture Year" was the "Confucius Exhibit," but the host treated Confucius as a "cultural relic." When the reporter from China's state-run People's Daily made the comment that people should select and study Confucianism while "conforming to the current time," this made me feel he was trying very hard to draw a clear and distinct boundary around Confucius, and one had to wonder whether too many political messages had been mixed into the "Culture Year."

The same reporter also quoted a French academician who said the most surprising thing about China is modern Chinese art, because this reflects the tremendous progress China has made through various reforms. These words are a blatant public desecration of our 5,000-year-old Chinese culture.

I decided to write an article entitled "Too Much Vaudeville and too Little Culture" about this "culture" that has been incisively and vividly showcased in Paris--a farce which clearly tells the world's people that other than lion dancing, playing the dragon lantern, and showing a cheongsam, the Chinese ruling Party indeed has its own "culture" of "contents of thinking."

This "culture" is what Jiang Zemin has initiated and created in person. It is the culture of hate and terror against the goodness of our 5,000 years of Chinese culture, which uses Falun Gong's "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance" as the main target. This "culture," when Hu Jintao visited Paris, was presented to France as a special program for the "Chinese Culture Year" by Jiang Zemin's regime.

On January 23, 2004, Gao Yudong, a Falun Gong practitioner from London, UK arrived in Paris along with her husband and son. Around noon on January 24, they arrived at Arc de Triomphe. At the subway exit Ms. Gao saw a few men waving to her, gesturing her to go to them. As she got closer, a few big men suddenly clamped both her arms very roughly. They squashed her arms, lifted her up and stuffed her into a police van that was parked nearby.

Another Falun Gong practitioner, Xiao Ting, is a UK citizen. On January 24, 2004, he was waiting for a French Falun Gong practitioner at Arc de Triomphe. A while later, the practitioner was slowly approaching Xiao Ting in his car when two police cars suddenly arrived and sandwiched the practitioner's car. He was ordered to get out of his car and was handcuffed. Afterwards, the two policemen rushed to Xiao Ting, blocked him and asked him not to move. They started to search his bag and one policeman searched his body. Nothing was found and finally they pushed both practitioners into the police car.

Falun Gong practitioner Teng Xueling is an artist who lives in the UK. On January 22, 2004, together with other Falun Gong practitioners, he travelled to Paris to participate the holiday activities, the parade and show. On January 22, he went to Arc de Triomphe for sightseeing. When he was taking pictures for another practitioner, a group of police suddenly surrounded the other practitioner and forcefully held him. After searching his body without finding anything, the police put his hands behind his back and tied him with a plastic rope. Afterwards, the police also arrested Teng Xueling and tied his hands behind his back.

They were detained at a police station for four or five hours before they were released. The police wrote "no reason" in their arrest warrant. The police explained that their superiors ordered them to make the arrests.

Many Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners had similar experiences.

All of this took place abruptly. The arrested Falun Gong practitioners didn't do anything wrong. When they asked the police why they were arrested, the answer was that because the practitioners wore scarves with "Falun Dafa" on them, had yellow clothing usually worn by Falun Gong practitioners, or they had Falun Gong pamphlets.

The police admitted that arresting people was wrong and was against the French spirit of democracy and freedom. The police said all decisions were made by their superiors, and they were afraid that Falun Gong practitioners would protest.

In fact, Falun Gong practitioners didn't go to protest against Hu Jintao; on the contrary, they were planning to welcome Hu and ask to bring Jiang to justice. Jiang, the head criminal guilty of the persecution of Falun Gong, was fearful and therefore threatened some individuals in the French government with curtailment of economic interests, and told them they had to prevent "yellow scarves" from showing up in Paris.

That is why the disappointing scenes took place in the streets of Paris.

In my opinion, the yellow scarves worn by the Falun Gong practitioners are rich in poetic and artistic flavor and the colour is gentle and harmonious. The words embroidered on the yellow scarves, whether in Chinese or English, are all very delicate. But, forcing the police to throw away the "yellow scarves" and arrest those wearing them in severe winter for no reason, what kind of picture would this paint?

If we were to condense this historic moment into an oil painting, it would be a realistic, vivid picture depicting the culture of hate and terror that Jiang's group has created and exported.

If one were to insist that this oil painting is a masterpiece of "Chinese modern art," it's because this picture has provided people with vivid human testimony and the material evidence that calls for the world to look straight into China's "power" of trampling human rights and inciting the police to commit crimes. It also reveals the extent to which Jiang's group is willing to go to defame Falun Gong practitioners.

If Jiang's group was able to make this happen in a western, democratic country like France, then what more do they do back in their Chinese homeland?

I must say that if the Western society wants to wholeheartedly promote the progress of Chinese civilisation, if they allow Jiang's culture of hate and terror, which attacks those who believe in "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance," to pollute the western world, that will not be a very bright road.

By Clearwisdom reporter Ouyang Fei

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